Once you had left, the two guards got ready two sets of chains meant to restrain the thief after the rings of light dispelled. One of them would be used to tie his arms and a larger, heavier one would be used to restrain his legs and both would be secured with a lock. While rope was probably more practical and easier to use, Duke Richard didn't mess around, knowing that some people were able to slip free or even break ropes with brute force.

One of the guards held the set of chains meant for the thief's arms and its respective lock while the other held a spear and pointed it at his head to deter any escape attempts. Still, even after they had seen it many times, they were amazed by Light magic. They knew of most other elemental magic through a few descendants of the Mage Clans that survived to this day and from some books but they had never seen anything about Light Mages until the day you arrived to Varland, 2 years prior.

They also admired your sword, which you had left stuck on the ground. Maybe calling it a sword was a bit of a stretch, but it was the closest approximation to the kind of weapon you wielded. It was as long as you were tall, making it about 75 inches long, corresponding to a height of 6'3" (190 cm in metric). But the blade was not only that long, it was also much wider than any conventional sword, a massive 18 inches, or about a foot and half (45 cm in metric). It was made of a shiny, all black metal and it was notoriously heavy, much more than a steel blade at that same size.

That colossal sword was double edged and across the length of its blade it was engraved in what looked like gold with symbols they'd never seen before. When asked about it, all you had been able to explain was that those were called runes and that they were probably an ancient Light Mage art, now lost to time. You had been told that the sword had been a family heirloom that your late father passed down to you.

The purpose of all of the runes wasn't entirely known to you, but you knew they sort of served to instantly cast specific spells, with each rune corresponding to a single spell, all that it required was some of your magic energy to flow into it and "ignite" the spell, to put it in a way that you could explain to non-magic users. Runes were insanely efficient and required far less energy to cast fully powered spells, their limitation being that they needed to be drawn or engraved somewhere and thus, having a lot of spells at the ready could take a whole lot of space. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why this peculiar sword was made to such massive proportions in the first place.

There were times where the guards and some other of the Duke's local soldiers joked about how a "kid" was able to swing such a huge sword and tried to hold it themselves and take a few swings. Even the stronger ones could only barely hold it, let alone take more than one or two swings with it, as it turned out to weigh roughly 250 pounds, more than most adult men themselves. (113 kg in metric). Your explanation had been that one of the runes made the sword much heavier to anyone that wasn't you, and that to you it only weighed a little more than a Zweihander type sword.

The very material the sword was made of, that black metal, seemed to be a mystery in itself. Across your travels with your friends/mercenary band, a couple of smiths took a look at it and they couldn't figure what kind of stuff it was, noting that it was a lot heavier than iron or steel and that the edges never appeared to get dull, remaining at their maximum sharpness at all times. A few alchemists did conclude that the black metal was a pure form of an unknown natural material, since there was no known alloy that yielded anything resembling this stuff. Once again your best guess was that it was a metal harvested and used by the ancient Light Mage Clan.

Meanwhile, in the Duke's castle...

"...and that concludes the monthly status report on Varland as a whole" A man reading from a scroll said, quickly rolling it back.

"Excellent. We've been enjoying a remarkably peaceful time, threats have been kept to a minimum and other than petty crime, there have been no incidents worthy of note in several months. I believe this is enough to justify the repeatedly questioned decision on keeping the Frihetensverd mercenary company around. The so called 'Child Soldiers' by many" Duke Richard spoke.

Despite his rank as a duke, he dressed relatively modestly, though the ducal crown and cape he wore gave his status away. A man barely 40 years old, though he easily looked a decade younger. With short but somewhat messy, dark brown hair and a well kept. short goatee matching it, he didn't quite have the looks of a wise ruler but he had proven any doubters wrong with his work.

His eyes were a light green color, said to have captivated the hearts of many ladies in the royal court yet the man remained unmarried, as he even ended up embracing the joke about being married to his job. He'd always say that there was a time and place and that he'd solve the heir issue when all other major issues in his realm were dealt with.

Currently, he was meeting with his subordinates to discuss the status of the entire Duchy of Varland, with the various counties and earldoms that made it up and that were under their charge. Time and time again, the nobles under him questioned how wise had it been to hire a band of such young soldiers, but over the last two years, they diligently proved every single accusation wrong, greatly decreasing the incidence of crime, taking care of dangerous creatures and conducting rescuing operations, even from the kidnapped children of many of these nobles themselves.

As such, fewer and fewer complained about the Duke's decision, but even to this day, a few who were particularly stubborn kept on questioning the decision of keeping this one mercenary company for so long, without any apparent plans of letting them go anytime soon.

A few of these nobles murmured as they really were trying to grasp at straws to find motives to get rid of them but there was no legitimate cause for it, and the majority now sided with Richard. They ended up begrudgingly nodding and agreeing that things hadn't been better in the domain in a long time. Eventually, they all left and Richard stood alone in the room, except for one more person: Hans, who was Richard's advisor, second in command and de facto leader of Varland's military forces unless Richard himself assumed direct command.

"My Lord, I understand the reasoning behind keeping those kids around. But with all due respect, they're running out of things to do here, petty crime can be easily taken care of by our forces, and the mercenaries' leader has stated time after time his desire to leave and find another place to work at... So, I must ask, why do you insist on keeping them around?" Hans asked while kneeling respectfully.

"You may stand up" Richard said, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Hans was kneeling. He chuckled, finding that much formality in private amusing. He saw him more as a friend than as a servant anyway "To keep them safe" He said after taking a deep breath.

"Excuse me?" Hans raised an eyebrow "I thought their job was to keep Varland safe?"

"That too, a wonderful side effect. You see, as long as I pay them they will stay here and remain safe, taking care of problems that are largely a piece of cake for them. They're far from the most expensive company as well" Richard explained "Their pay is more than justified, their success rate with any missions they've undertaken is very remarkable, and their presence benefits us all"

"I... I understand. But it does seem like you have a personal interest in their safety? I mean, I get it, they're young enough to be your kids. I'm a father myself, I think I understand. But these kids can take care of themselves, they're all orphans, they've all faced the world at its worst and they came out on top. I don't know if we need to worry about them that much" Hans replied with a heavy sigh himself.

"Yes, all those concerns are valid, and I'm aware of their proficiency, they know how to live off the land, they have wandered across the entire Empire and have always found a way to survive to the next day" Richard then gave a slight smirk "But you're not wrong, I do have a personal interest in their safety"

Hans' suppressed gasp and the pause he made cued the Duke in to continue.

"These guys are all Mages. You know as well as I do that even though only Dark Magic has been forbidden, Mages working in active service are very frowned upon by imperial forces. How many have the Imperial Elites slain? They're only fine as long as they keep away from jobs in the military. By letting them wander freely, there is a risk they will run into them and the outcome won't be good. Even if they're strong enough to take down an elite squad, more will hunt them down until they perish..."

"Please forgive me, My Lord, for I had not thought of this" Hans bowed down.

"Don't worry, you are forgiven" Richard said "Besides, you've seen their leader, right? A Light Mage, such a rare kind of person to find. And I don't believe the Emperor would be too happy to hear of such news"

"Yeah, the Emperor does have some kind of grudge or prejudice against Elemental Mages" Hans nodded.

"But there is one more reason..." Richard said "That boy's father... he was my best friend, back in the day. And we made a promise to each other that, should anything happen to us, the other would make sure to take care of their orphaned children. I'm keeping that promise" He said, and Hans' eyes widened.

"You knew a Light Mage?"

Richard simply chuckled, but that was enough for Varland's military force commander, who now had a greater understanding of his Lord's reasoning to keep the young mercenaries around. It made perfect sense, and Hans couldn't help but feel more respect for the determination to uphold an oath made to a friend in the days of one's youth. He even wished he had such a loyal friend himself. With that, he did a reverencial bow and walked out of the room, leaving the Duke to his thoughts.